Does your smartphone still receive security updates? Here’s how to find out

In the vast panorama of mobile technology, updating the operating system of your Android smartphone is not only a matter of aesthetic and functional novelties, security updates, often underestimated and ignored, actually represent a fundamental component to ensure the safety, stability and longevity of your device. But how do you know if your phone continues to regularly receive the latest security patches available? Continue reading to find out.

Because security updates are fundamental

We all present how fragmented the Android world is, characterized by a multiplicity of manufacturers and models of different smartphones, and therefore not all devices are treated in the same way; Some smartphones receive updates regularly, others are abandoned a few years after the launch, if not months in the case of low -end devices.

Safety updates are intended to correct criticism, bugs and vulnerabilities which could be exploited by malware, spyware or remote attacks; In short, just as a case physically protects the smartphone, software updates protect the digital heart.

A device that has not received security patches for several months therefore, it is potentially vulnerable, the risks related to obsolete software are real and not negligible, especially if you use the phone for sensitive operations such as home banking or access to personal data.

How to check if your smartphone still receives security updates

We arrive at the core of the matter, to find out if your Android smartphone is still supported by the manufacturer with safety updates, the simplest method consists in Check the date of the last installed patch; Here’s how to do it:

• go to the Settings device
• Scroll down and select Information on the phone or System (depends on the device)
• Click on Android version or Software information
• identify the item Android security update

Here a date will be visible, if for example you are reading “May 5, 2025”, that is the date of the most recent security patches received; It is good to remember that Google releases security updates monthly, if your smartphone does not receive a 3 or 4 months update it could be out of the support cycle (net of some devices dated, but still supported, which fall into a quarterly release cycle).

However, updates are not always installed automatically, in some cases, especially if the user has deactivated automatic updates or if the rollout takes place in Scaglioni, it is possible that a update is available that has simply been not yet notified; At this point you can Manually check for any availability:

• go to the Settings device
• Scroll down and select Information on the phone or System (depends on the device)
• click Software update or System update
• Press on Check updates

At this point, if there is an available update, you will be proposed to download it and install it immediately.

The signals that indicate that your smartphone is no longer supported and how to behave

Oltra on the date of the last installed security patch, there are others alarm bells that could suggest that your device has been abandoned by its manufacturer: no system update in the last 6 or 12 months, version of old Android (for example Android 11 or 12), presence on the market of subsequent models of the same series, official indication on the manufacturer’s website that the smartphone is out of production.

In these cases, it is legitimate to assume that the software support for your phone has finished.

To stay up to date on the security front, Google publishes an official bulletin every month with all the patches released, Checking these technical notes can help you understand if your device is in line with the latest distributed corrections; If the patch of your phone are older than a few months than the last of the bulletin, it is likely that your smartphone no longer receives updates.

At this point, the situation is not the most rosy, but there are some precautionary measures that you can adopt to continue using the smartphone in relative safety; Here are some examples:

• Avoid installing apps from unknown sources
• Use an updated browser and with active protection functions
• avoid, as far as possible, the most sensitive operations (such as access to bank accounts)
• evaluate the installation of a personalized Roma (operation not suitable for beginners and to be faced with due awareness of the risks)

Alternatively, the safest and most simple choice is Buy a new smartphoneperhaps following our advice on which are the best at the moment; Brand devices such as Google and Samsung are known to offer prolonged software support, which in some cases can even reach 5 or 7 years.

In conclusion, checking the status of security updates is a habit that all Android users should acquire, just as you control the battery status or the available memory; It is not just about keeping the phone updated with new functions, but of preserving one’s digital security over time.